Lavigne’s return from the dead

Avril Lavigne was certain she was going to die, said Laura Snapes in The Guardian (U.K.). Around her 30th birthday, the Canadian pop star began feeling exhausted and became so ill she could not get out of bed; she felt as if she were drowning. Doctors diagnosed her with anxiety and chronic fatigue—although she was certain she had Lyme disease. Finally, a doctor confirmed her suspicion. “It was a relief,” the now-34-year-old says. “I was like, ‘OK, now I can at least start treating something.’” She spent two years on antibiotics and in bed, where she began writing her sixth album. Naturally, it’s called Head Above Water. “It just felt really good to be singing,” she says. “The emotion was so raw.” Her life has been a roller-coaster ride since she was discovered singing country songs in an Ontario bookstore 19 years ago. While selling 40 million albums, she’s been married and divorced twice, battled her record company over control of her music, and had to contend with an internet conspiracy theory that she had died and been replaced with a doppelgänger. “It’s difficult to be a woman and to be heard,” she says. “People sometimes don’t take you seriously. I’ve had to fight different people on this journey.” ■